Mechanical thermostats are oftentimes used to control temperature in various different control environments. There are, however, various drawbacks associated with such conventional type thermostats. For example, mechanical thermostats tend to produce noise in the form of electromagnetic interference (EMI). This can be significant in environments in which noise level is critical. Furthermore, cycling on/off of such thermostats results in wear which can eventually lead to reliability problems.
Electronic thermostats have been developed which may alleviate some of the disadvantages associated with conventional mechanical thermostats. However, there remains a strong need in the art for a solid-state thermostat which provides low noise operation and high reliability. More particularly, there is a strong need in the art for such a thermostat which is capable of fault detection and reporting. In addition, there is a strong need in the art for such a thermostat which is programmable with respect to setpoints, etc.